


The Runaway Train

by orphan_account



Series: What A Fine Mess We Make [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Eating Disorders, Family, Gen, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 23:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14389692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Shirley family through the years.Michael Shirley is three years old the first time he is introduced to his baby brother.Lucifer Shirley is five years old the first time he gets into a fight.Raphael Shirley is six years old the first time he reads a book that matters.Gabriel Shurley is seven years old the first time he runs away from home.(Michael has failed, Lucifer is guilty, Raphael is regretful, and Gabriel pretends he likes being alone.)





	The Runaway Train

**Author's Note:**

> hey i finally decided to write a thing after like. a kfkjillion years, sorry if it sucks lmao. 
> 
> leave a comment or whatever i dont rly mind. it would be nice if it got a kudos or two.

Michael Shirley is three years old the first time he is introduced to his baby brother.

He is three years old and he the world is still his oyster and he just finished drawing all over his bedroom wall with his crayons when his dad comes in. His name is Lucifer, his dad tells him, and you need to look after him. Lucifer is bright and so small and so gentle, and as little Michael takes him into his arms, he swears to protect this child with everything he has.

Michael Shirley is six years old the second time he is introduced to his baby brother.

He is six years old and the world is good and he and Lucifer are playing a game of hide and seek when his dad calls him. His name is Raphael, his dad tells him, a three-year-old Lucifer at his side, and you need to keep him safe. Raphael is so much smaller than Lucifer was, and his little brother leans in and lays a kiss on Raphael’s forehead, and as little Michael watches the two of them, he swears to protect these children with everything he has.

Michael Shirley is eight years old the third and final time he is introduced to his baby brother.

He is eight years old and he knows sorrow and he’d been sitting in his room waiting for the call. His name his Gabriel. says his dad, and drops him into Michael’s arms. Michael knows what Gabriel is. The term band-aid baby springs to mind. Gabriel is somehow even smaller than Raphael, and as he watches his little brothers surround the new baby, he swears to protect all of these children with everything he has.

(It is not until he is twenty seven and he sees Lucifer with his blood stained fists and Raphael with his bile-scarred fingers and Gabriel shaking in a hospital bed from pneumonia that he knows he’s failed.)

\-----

Lucifer Shirley is five years old the first time he gets into a fight.

He is five years old and he’s just started school and someone has just called him a very mean name. He doesn’t understand why it makes him so angry, but he sees red and when his vision clears he’s in the office with a very angry dad sat next to him.

Lucifer Shirley is ten years old the second time he gets into a fight. 

He is ten years old and someone has just slapped a seven year old Raphael in the face. He knows this time why that makes him so angry, but he still sees red and when his vision clears he’s breathing hard over the unconscious body of another seven year old and he doesn’t feel guilty.

Lucifer Shirley is nineteen years old the third time he gets into a fight. 

He is nineteen years old and Michael is twenty two but that doesn’t stop him from launching himself over the couch at his brother and beating the crap out of him and getting the crap beaten out of him in return and he only feels guilt when he hears little Gabriel, only fourteen, scream for them to stop.

(He stops, but not before breaking Michael’s nose. He only regrets it when Gabriel runs away, three years later.)

\----

Raphael Shirley is six years old the first time he reads a book that matters.

He is six years old and suddenly an entirely new world is open to him. It is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and to Raphael it is the beginning of an entirely new adventure and from then on he’s rarely seen without a book in his hand. 

Raphael Shirley is eleven years old the second time he reads a book that matters. 

He is eleven years old and Lucifer has just turned fourteen and he’s been raising hell with Michael, so Raphael retreats into his books, and it’s here where he escapes from the shouting and the heavy sound of punches hitting flesh.

Raphael Shirley is sixteen years old the third and final time he reads a book that matters.

He is sixteen years old and he has been losing weight since he was thirteen, but none of his brothers seem to notice. He devours knowledge instead, book after book after book and it is here that he pretends he can’t hear the way Gabriel sobs into his pillow above him. 

(He fails to pretend and finally puts the book down to climb up into his little brother’s bed and holds him as they both cry.)

\------

Gabriel Shirley is seven years old the first time he runs away from home.

He is seven years old and the world is bright and full of life. It is April and the grass is so green and the sun is so bright and he is sat on Lucifer’s back and they are both laughing because they are free. It won’t be for long, because Lucifer is only twelve and they had no idea what they’d need, but they spend the whole day in the woods, playing games like hide and seek, before their father finds them.

Gabriel Shirley is nine years old the second time he runs away from home.

He is nine years old and the world is duller and seems sadder. It is November and the forest is blanketed in snow and the weak Winter sun only makes things colder. There is no Lucifer this time, because Lucifer is fourteen and has no time for his baby brother. This time, he is accompanied by Raphael, who insists they go home when the temperature drops below freezing and Gabriel agrees because he is tired and his feet hurt and this is nothing like the first time.

Gabriel Shirley is seventeen years old the third and final time he runs away from home.

He is seventeen years old and he can’t take it anymore, he can’t, he just can’t. It is February and he has only a thin hoodie and a backpack but he is free. Free from seeing Lucifer with black eyes and bloody noses, free from seeing Michael with icy eyes and bruised knuckles, free from seeing Raphael with silent prayers and too-loud vomit, free from seeing the absence of a father who never loved him. He curls up behind a dumpster and pretends he isn’t crying.

(He fails to pretend and at least the tears warm his face a little, and he is shivering so hard he isn’t sure if it’s from sobbing or from the cold.)


End file.
